Dean

By PoliPundit ~ June 10th, 2003 @ 3:02 pm

More and more people are agreeing with what I’ve been saying over and over, for months and months: Howard Dean is the only thing standing between John Kerry and the Democratic nomination:

John Kerry is clearly the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination; but, in my opinion, the person most likely to beat him isn’t Joe Lieberman (too hawkish, too soporific), John Edwards (too callow, too ambulance-chaser), Dick Gephardt (too blonde, too bland) or Bob Graham (too crazy, too grandfatherly.) The person most likely to beat Kerry for the nomination is Howard Dean. It’s easy to see Dean becoming the darling of the liberal press and carrying Iowa, with its Democratic caucus peaceniks, and making a strong showing in New Hampshire, which is next door to his home state. Good results in the first two states in the primary should more than make up for his relative lack of name ID. As for money, the fact that he has endorsements from Rob Reiner and Martin Sheen should help with fundraising from Hollywood.

From today’s Note:

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: Howard Dean might win both Iowa and New Hampshire; Howard Dean is the only major candidate in the race who talks like both a governor AND a real person from outside Washington; Howard Dean is really using the Internet to fundraise and organize (It ain’t just hype … .); Howard Dean connects regularly with Democratic audiences in a way that the others can do only sporadically; Howard Dean has a long record of policy thoughtfulness and a capacity to connect it to the real lives of real people that governors do best (and is, dare we say it, Clintonesque) ; and he evinces real anger at George Bush’s polices.

The dirty little (not-so) secret of political strategists of both parties is how hard it is to get people interested in, and emotional about, politics. Howard Dean is doing that, and he is bringing new (and young) people into the process. In a crowded field, that is a good thing.

And Slate’s Will Saletan:

Dean is far and away the most interesting player in the race. Not since Clinton have Democrats seen a talent like this.

Of course, if Howard Dean is the Democratic nominee, he will be slaughtered by George W. Bush in a landslide with long coattails. The only Democratic candidate with a legitimate chance of beating Bush is John Kerry.